Shloka 20
अत्रेः तपोबलप्रकाशः तथा च्यवनस्य सोमाधिकारः
Atri’s Illumination by Tapas; Cyavana and Soma-Entitlement
यह प्रायश्रित्त करनेके बाद उसे सिद्धि प्राप्त होती है और वह भारी आपत्तिमें कभी नहीं पड़ता है ।। यस्तु शूद्रे: समश्रीयाद् ब्राह्मणो5प्येक भोजने । अशौचं विधिवत् तस्य शौचमत्र विधीयते
yaḥ prāyaścittaṃ kṛtvā tataḥ siddhiṃ prāpnoti sa ca gurv-āpadi kadācana na patati. yaḥ tu śūdreṣu samaśrayed brāhmaṇo 'py eka-bhojane, aśaucaṃ vidhivat tasya śaucam atra vidhīyate.
Dijo Bhīṣma: Tras cumplir la expiación prescrita (prāyaścitta), el hombre alcanza purificación y éxito, y no cae en grave aflicción. Pero si incluso un brāhmaṇa, al compartir una sola comida, se relaciona en pie de igualdad con los śūdras, se considera que para él surge impureza; por ello, aquí se ordena el rito correcto de limpieza.
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that faults leading to ritual impurity can be remedied through properly performed prāyaścitta, restoring śauca and preventing further downfall; it also underscores that certain forms of social mixing in a shared meal context are treated by dharma-text logic as generating aśauca for a brāhmaṇa, requiring prescribed purification.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he is laying out rules about impurity and its removal, specifying that when a brāhmaṇa incurs aśauca through particular conduct (such as equal association with śūdras in a shared meal), the text prescribes the appropriate cleansing rite.